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Elements of the hero's journey
What qualities does a hero need to have to be a hero
Importance of heroes in society
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The Hero’s Journey is an ancient archetype that we find throughout our modern life and also, in the world of literature.Whether metaphorical or real, the journey that a character goes on shows not only the incredible transformation of the hero but it also gives them their life meaning. It is the ultimate human experience and it reflects on every aspect of life. Take Logan, also known as Wolverine, from the X-Men movie as an example. His adventure starts with “The Call,” which is the first step of the Hero’s Journey. This step happens due to the realization of imbalance and injustice that the character has in their life. Logan steps into the first stage of the pattern but is hesitant to start his adventure because he does not know what and …show more content…
The tension of great fear that builds up inside him at that very moment, is when a decision had to be made. To or not to accept the call. When he does accept his call, he has unlocked the path of his Challenges. Logan knew that there was no way that he would be able to actually “ connect” with another mutant of his own kind, or anyone for that matter because he doesn’t trust anybody. Until he had met Rogue. At the beginning of the movie when Logan and Rogue were in his truck, driving, she kept bombarding him with questions he did not want to answer. The irritation in his voice and eyes could be clearly stated as he knew that the longer the conversation went on for, the deeper and riskier he was going into the unknown. The stage of the challenges are barriers or obstacles that appear throughout the journey of the hero, which is Logan, and he has to overcome these figures that occur, with commitment and drive. It’s not just about the obstacles, it’s also about the allies and enemies. When Logan meets Sabertooth, one of his guardians from the Threshold, through an attack, he realizes right away that Sabertooth is one of those barriers that keep him from finishing the “ultimate goal” in The Hero’s Journey. As mentioned before, there are also allies that show on the pathway of the hero’s journey, not just the enemies. Both of these assets help Logan become a greater hero of himself by testing his skills and power. Moreover, he also discovers who he can trust and who he can’t. In the middle of the movie, when Rogue gets kidnapped by Magneto, he knows that he has to save her, and so he starts off alone but then ends up working with Storm and Cyclops, Logan’s helpers and his X-Men team. Storm and Cyclops are the ones that assist or direct the character in the pattern of the Hero’s Journey. In order for Logan to master the Challenge stage of the archetype, he had to break his “natural ability” to
The best quality stories do not have to be the most popular ones. After being raised in the wild, Atalanta becomes an amazing huntress with unbelievable speed. She rises to fame by killing an seemingly unkillable boar, and as a result she gains many suitors, one of which outwits her to seal her unwanted fate. Many different heroes in lots of different cultures follow a series of events in their lifetime leading to the achievement of their goal as well as the zap back to reality. Joseph Campbell refers to this process as The Hero's Journey. Atalanta skips up the staircase of the Hero's journey leaping over some steps.
Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist, conveys, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”. In other words, Aristotle states that the gaining of self-knowledge provides an individual with the ability to know one’s personal gifts and accountabilities. To start one’s adult life a person must pursue the journey of self-discovery to learn in depth about their skills and weaknesses. Individuals must find themselves through the limitations and ordeals that they face during their voyage for self-awareness. For example, in Tim O’Brien’s short story, “On the Rainy River”, the narrator shares his story about self-discovery. O’Brien looks back into his past, to the time when he was called to serve in the Vietnam War. O’Brien’s initial
The human need to be relatable is unquenchable. We love to be able to see parts of ourselves in others, and to be able to feel like our idols are not untouchable. The Hero’s Journey format is one that can be found in almost any story, even in real life. Overall, it is the perfect recipe for keeping readers engrossed. Another place the journey has shown up is in Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Odyssey by Homer. These two stories—one a biography, the other, an epic poem—are so effective in their storytelling, it is easy to see how authors today continue to use the same method to make stories that grab the readers’ attention. What makes them most alike, however, is the emotions and thoughts they have the power to provoke.
In this world that we live on there are a plethora of cultures and people but one thing that brings all these cultures together is a certain story base, the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey has been around for the longest time and many commonly known stories that we know today are based off of the hero’s journey.
Joseph Campbell made himself one of the chief authorities on how mythology works when he published his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In this book, Campbell describes what he believes to be the monomyth, known as “The Hero’s Journey.” Campbell wrote that this monomyth, the basic structure of all heroic myth, has three basic stages, which in turn have subcategories themselves. The heroic story of Katniss Everdeen, told in the movie Hunger Games, follows Campbell’s monomyth outline quite well.
The Hero’s Journey is a pattern or type of novel that applies to many adventure stories.
The Hero’s Journey is a basic template utilized by writers everywhere. Joseph Campbell, an American scholar, analyzed an abundance of myths and literature and decided that almost all of them followed a template that has around twelve steps. He would call these steps the Hero’s Journey. The steps to the Hero’s Journey are a hero is born into ordinary circumstances, call to adventure/action, refusal of call, a push to go on the journey, aid by mentor, a crossing of the threshold, the hero is tested, defeat of a villain, possible prize, hero goes home. The Hero’s Journey is more or less the same journey every time. It is a circular pattern used in stories or myths.
Joseph Campbell is well known for writing The Hero with a Thousand Faces outlining the stages of a hero’s journey. Ever since then, the hero’s journey became famous as it is used in many works of literature (Bancks). A literature work that represents the hero’s journey is Lord of the Flies. In Lord of the Flies, the protagonist Ralph presents himself a brave hero that undergoes the hero’s journey to return home. Ralph is on a plane which landed on an isolated island after a plane accident where the pilot is unconscious and most likely dead. Along with the other children who boarded the plane, they must survive and find a way to get home. According to Campbell, the three main phases of a hero’s journey is departure, initiation and return, separated into many stages (Siegelman). The departure stage is where the hero exits his comfort zone and enters into the world of the unknown. The initiation phase is where the hero is tested to prove his character and the return is when the hero returns home with a boon for the benefit of his people (Ubelhor). Lord of the Flies qualifies to be an example of the hero’s journey because the protagonist Ralph goes through the “departure, initiation and return” process of the hero expedition in order to show that he is a hero through his courage, intelligence and leadership.
The hero’s journey can be seen as a set of laws or challenges that every hero faces through their own journey(Christopher Vogler). The hero’s journey is used as a general term such as all
The second concept of the Hero’s journey shows us that all stories are the same. They all follow the same pattern or algorithm of separation, initiation, and return. An example from the movie is the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy is removed from her natural environment by a tornado, initiated with a lion, scarecrow, and tin man, and the group embarks on a journey to see the wizard. In the end, she is able to return home by clicking her heels. She realizes she has had the ability the whole time, but she needed to test herself. We are just like the characters we see in our favoritie movies, books, and shows – they are a metaphor for us as normal human beings. The last concept I learned is “Follow your bliss”. This concept of bliss is defined in many ways. One definition is serenity. Another definition is the thing you cannot not do. It is what makes a person feel alive. In order to answer the question of what is your bliss, you must ask yourself difficult questions like: What am I passionate about? What makes hours seem like minutes? What made me different as a child? After answering these tough questions, a person can find their
The Hero’s journey is a structure which all stories are created from and with which the structure provides the core for creating amazing stories. The Hero’s journey consists of twelve steps the Ordinary World, The Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Tests/Allies/Enemies, Approach to The Inmost Cave, Ordeal, Reward (Seizing The Sword), The Road Back, Resurrection, and Return with The Elixir. All of the stories and plays we have heard go along with the outline from the Hero’s journey the order may sometimes change but at the very least it is a common structure used by most writers. When looking at the story The Mercy Seat through the lens of Ben Harcourt we can examine each of the steps in depth.
In 1280, King Edward "Longshanks" invades and conquers Scotland following the death of Alexander III of Scotland, who left no heir to the throne. Young William Wallace witnesses Longshanks' treachery, survives the deaths of his father and brother, and is taken abroad on a pilgrimage throughout Europe by his paternal Uncle Argyle, where he is educated. Years later, Longshanks grants his noblemen land and privileges in Scotland, including Prima Nocte. Meanwhile, a grown Wallace returns to Scotland and falls in love with his childhood friend Murron MacClannough, and the two marry in secret. Wallace rescues Murron from being raped by English soldiers, but as she fights off their second attempt, Murron is captured and publicly executed. In retribution,
Stephen Richards once said, “When you do what you fear most, then you can do anything.” Joseph Campbell has written a three stage theory that every hero in a story goes through, a journey if you will. Every journey is different, but it's always structured around his formula, a hero will: separate from his/her known world into a new one, they'll challenge opposing forces or complete a series of tests, and lastly they return to their world again with a gift. Going along with this formula I've gone through my own hero's journey, and succeeded.
In Joseph Campbell’s article, “The Hero’s Journey Defined”, the author describes the cycle of a hero’s journey. According to Joseph Campbell, an odyssey consists of three stages, departure, initiation, and return. Accordingly, the hero leaves his familiar world and gets tested to prove his character, later to return home to spread his experience to his society. Initiation is the beginning of the journey where the hero must prove that he is capable of the completing the journey. The article describes the second stage of the journey as the rising actions and climax of the story in which the hero will likely succeed in his quest. Initiation is essential to the hero's cycle, because it is the stage where the hero is put to the test. Departure
In order for one to be a hero they must go through the hero’s journey. The Hero’s Journey is a way that heroic stories paths have followed throughout many years. The journey has many parts but go into two main parts, the ordinary world and the extraordinary world. As the hero goes through the story, they are able to go though the journey many times. The earliest story we have using the Hero’s Journey is Beowulf. In Beowulf, Beowulf goes through the Hero’s Journey three different times. the Hero's Journey we will look at is the battle with Grendel's mother.